This Closet Turned Bedroom Is My Favorite Studio Apartment Transformation Ever
When I think about the studio apartments I love most (from Apartment Therapy’s own house tours or from social media), there’s a definite pattern in my favorites. The studio apartments that I most want to hang out in, the ones I find the most inspiring, the ones that I think about years after I first see them are the ones that are full of brilliant ideas. The kinds of ideas that not only make a space look beautiful, but also make a small space function better.
There’s no monopoly on good ideas, and there have been tons of small spaces made substantially better by renters and homeowners alike. One that has stood out to me throughout the years is the smart small-space makeover that Franco Cheng did to a 450-square-foot studio apartment in Toronto, Canada.
“I purchased this apartment in the summer of 2020. With Toronto’s sky-high home prices, a studio apartment was all I could afford and it posed an interesting challenge for design and renovation,” Franco wrote in the house tour first published in 2021. “The 36-story building was constructed in the late ’70s, making it one of the first high-rise condos in the city. Unlike newer, liberally glazed condos, mine was built primarily of poured-in concrete and laid-on bricks — characteristic of residential high rises of that era. This provides solid enclosures and superb soundproofing for my apartment still with lots of fresh air and natural light.”
What this 1970s-era apartment also offered was some outdated elements. One such element was a mirrored closet right by the studio apartment’s entryway. Although mirrors can make a small space feel larger, thanks to reflecting lots of natural light, in this case it gave the space an outdated vibe. And rather than just see the closet as a spot for hidden storage, Franco saw it as a potential brilliant sleeping solution.
He first tore out the closet, opening up that corner of the studio apartment. He then “installed a series of half-height, hand-stained louvers, helping to strike the balance between enclosure and visibility at the short entryway,” he wrote at the time of the house tour. Franco installed floor-to-ceiling curtains next, which “filter some light out and provide privacy in absence of an actual bedroom.”
The addition of IKEA’s Nordli platform bed adds lots of storage back into that corner, and Franco’s DIY headboard made of “edge-banded plywood fixed onto the wall” adds a level of stylish personalization to the home’s new bedroom nook.
With the bed tucked away, Franco explained that he was able to fit “proper living and work spaces” in the rest of his studio apartment’s small amount of square footage.